Last time I went to India, we picked up the visa while we were in Bangkok. It only took a couple of days (although the people were very unfriendly!) We're planning a trip to Delhi over Christmas; it's good to know that we should apply early when we're stateside.

When was last time? Where did you apply in Bangkok? I wouldn't mind wasting two days in Bangkok for it!

You have to get the visa from your residence city. I couldn't get it from NY.

Generally, most people have to get the Indian visa from the embassy/consulate that covers their area of residence. Some of us get around that, especially when we are traveling abroad. It may take longer, but I found it faster as I didn't need to deal with the Travisa/BLS contractors in the US that slow things down for me.

And how do you do this? Getting it from an area where you aren't a residence?

Got our passports and applications to the embassy in the country being visited and paid the visa fees. Sometimes attached a letter saying we weren't returning to country of residence before we needed to be in India.